A Brief History of 'Breaking Bad's' Pink Teddy Bear Recurring Motif

Breaking Bad kicks off on Sunday, and besides simply being the best drama on television, one of the things I’m looking forward to most in the final season is how showrunner Vince Gilligan will work the pink teddy bear imagery into the final 16 episodes. A lot of people who obsess over the show and read everything about it probably already know the significance of the pink teddy bear (and his eye), but for those of you who rushed through the first four seasons in marathons without the benefit of constant Internet chatter, it’s worth looking looking back at the life of the the prop over the course of the series. SPOILERS TO FOLLOW.

The Pink Teddy bear began its run as a major recurring motif in the second season. It was first featured in a webisode before the second season, in a music video for Jesse Pinkman’s band, TwaughtHammer.

The pink teddy bear is seen again in flash-forwards in four episodes: Seven Thirty-Seven, Down, Over, and ABQ, which — when put together — foreshadows the events of the season two finale: Flight 737 Down Over ABQ. (737 is also the number in thousands of dollars that Walt thought that he needed to support his family after he died).

Each flash forward from those four episodes is in black-and-white except for the pink teddy bear.

The teddy bear falls out of the downed 737 plane and lands in Walt’s swimming pool, losing its eye. In that second-season finale, Walt White — who had worn nothing but beiges and dark colors all series long — is seen wearing, what else? A pink sweater.

Also, the season 2 episode when Walt sells the 40 pounds to Gus and at the same time Skyler is having the baby. Walt drives into the abandoned motel parking lot, he drives by the motel swimming pool and you see the pink teddy bear lying next to the pool.

It’s not a motif, it’s a character trait. Marie is just as unhinged as the rest of them just below the surface. She’s a kleptomaniac and a compulsive liar and she has a borderline unhinged love of the color purple so everything she buys is that color.

The article makes interesting visual parallels, but it doesn’t explain the meaning of the motif. The eye is a direct physical reminder of the negative consequences of Walt’s choices – and the only one of which Walt willingly holds onto. For sure, Walt’s guilt manifests itself through many channels – his unnatural attire, the body coming thru the bathtub, Walter Jr. messing up the pool, the Aztek’s continuously-breaking glass, the purchase of the Dodge Charger, the RV itself, and to a certain degree Skyler’s affair – but all of these things are taken off, repaired or cleaned up to maintain the social order. The eye, on the other hand, can be easily concealed as just a weird-looking eye. The eye is a scar that only Walt can see, and can return to when he sees fit. The eye serves as (safe) proof to himself that Walt doesn’t run from everything. It shows us how much Walt will punish himself – enough to remind him of his evil ways, but not enough to burden him politically in the world.

It’s interesting to note different parties’ reactions to the eye. Skyler is clearly freaked out by it. By that point she has heavily implicated herself with Walt’s choices, and even though she doesn’t know what the eye is exactly, she seems to be remarkably susceptible to the eye’s judication. On the other hand, the cartel brothers take a look at it – and disregard it. No surprise – they don’t feel guilty about much of anything – and they can view it as just a weird-looking eye.

That’s what I was looking for, albeit I just woke up and my brain is too dead to come up with a decent reply. I just wanted to say thank you for your evaluation. Dustin’s summary was nice but this is what I was hoping to read.

I just rewatched the 1st episode of season 2 and noticed that the opening scene is almost the same shot for shot as the pool scene in Gliding Over All. In both scenes, the camera lingers on objects around the Whites’ pool: a dripping hose, the spiral wind chime, and a bug crawling. The first time we see this mise-en-scène it is in a black and white flashforward peak of the aftermath of the plane crash. It is also the first time we see the eye of the Teddy Bear floating in the pool. In Gliding Over It All we see the exact same objects, only the snail in the first scene is replaced by a beetle and the bear’s eye is replaced by a shot of Holly in her toy car dressed in pink. I’m afraid this may be further proof that Holly will be the next unintended victim of Walter’s actions, either cosmically or more literally.